Ellen Makes An Absolutely Hilarious On-air Call To An 88-year-old Fan

Is there anything better than a sassy old grandmother? 88-year-old Gladys Hardy is, as everyone says, “quite a hoot.” Or is she? There’s some debate as to whether Gladys even exists at all, or is simply the invented character of voice artist and stand-up comedian Scott Hardy (some relation, we suppose), of Austin, Texas. Scott claims that his “nana” Gladys is a very real person but many others aren’t so sure.

We don’t spoil whether Gladys is a real, amazing, hilarious senior citizen or not, you can do a little Google snooping yourself if you’re curious. What we will say is that fake or real, Gladys is quite the character and makes us smile every time we hear her.

She makes Ellen smile, too. And laugh. In fact, she did so for 7 seasons of The Ellen Show, so clearly most of her viewers felt the same way. This video clip takes us back to the very first time Ellen called Gladys on the air, after Gladys had contacted the show to inform them that a potted plant behind Ellen’s chair made her look like Alfalfa. Naturally Ellen couldn’t resist phoning such a forthright viewer and the rest, as they say, is history.